Judicial and Jury Nullification

I just found this on another blog...

Jury Symposium

The Northern Illinois Law Review recently (Summer 2008) had a symposium, The Modern American Jury:

Paula L. Hannaford-Agor, Judicial Nullification? Judicial Compliance and Non-Compliance with Jury Improvement Efforts, 28 N. Ill. U. L. Rev. 407-424 (2008)

Irwin A. Horowitz, Jury Nullification: An Empirical Perspective, 28 N. Ill. U. L. Rev. 425-451 (2008)

Kirk W. Schuler, In the Vanguard of the American Jury: A Case Study of Jury Innovations in the Northern District of Iowa, 28 N. Ill. U. L. Rev. 453-501 (2008)

Elizabeth Dale, People v. Coughlin and Criticisms of the Criminal Jury in Late Nineteenth-Century Chicago, 28 N. Ill. U. L. Rev. 503-536 (2008)

Frank A. Perrecone & Lisa R. Fabiano, The Federalization of Punitive Damages and the Effect on Illinois Law, 28 N. Ill. U. L. Rev. 537-557 (2008)

I always find good stuff like this after the fact. Murphy's Law I suppose...

Judicial Nullification and It's Implications

Judicial Nullification is a right of the Judges to nullify a law if they feel it is to harsh (even the manditory minimums) for the situtation it is being applied to.

Although it is highly frowned upon, Judicial Nullification is allowed in our Judicial System. There is a test to see if nullification is acceptable in a case:

"Let us deploy this two pronged test, derived from the intuition that the wrongness of any governmental action can always be explained either as a violation of rights or a disservice to the public good. If it is wrong for courts to nullify the law, then nullification must either violate one or more background moral rights held by particular citizens (i.e., rights that are independent of positive law [16]) or else it must have on balance bad consequences for the public weal."

So, if it violates a Civil Right, or it is not in the best interest of the public good, then the nullification is illegal.

Judicial Nullification, just like Jury Nullification, isn't widely practiced in the courts these days. One, because of a lack of knowledge by the lawyers who assume the Honour and responsibility of being a Judge. Two, because these days, we see the courts siding with the legislators more and less with upholding the Constitution as it was written and the intent behind it.

As a Constitution Voter, I find it my duty to try and inform people of their rights in court, no matter what type of court, or for what circumstances they might be there for.

Judicial Nullification, Jury Nullification, two very important rights/powers to help send the legislators that we are tired of laws that steal our civil rights and seperate the Government from the people.